U.S. women's hockey: From fighting for better pay to fighting for gold

The U.S. Women's Hockey team hasn't won gold since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.Tonight the team ...

Posted: Feb 22, 2018 3:59 AM

Updated: Feb 22, 2018 3:59 AM

The U.S. Women's Hockey team hasn't won gold since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Tonight the team faces off against Canada for another chance at gold. But these U.S. hockey players won perhaps their biggest victoryin March 2016, almost a year ago.

That came when women on the national team won a fight for better pay and scored a contract that rivals that of the men's national team.

The women claimed USA Hockey wasn't paying them a living wage, despite the team medaling in every Winter Olympics since women's hockey debuted in 1998. Themen's national team was also afforded more benefits and marketing attention.

Most of the women on the team said they had to work one or two other jobs in addition to training and competing because they were making so little from being on the national team.

The women asked for a $68,000 salary and the same treatment that the men receive, including the ability to bring a guest to competitions, fly business class, and have disability insurance. The women also wanted benefits like child care, maternity leave and the ability to compete in more games throughout the year.

The women's team mobilized and was able to convince potentialalternates at the college and high school levelto refuse to step in to take their place.

"A lot of people are going to give the 23 people on the roster a lot of credit, but it was really every single person who turned down an invitation and helped spread it on social media," national team member Monique Lamoureux said at the time.

The boycott also drew support over social media from the players' associations for the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, and the NHL.

According to NHL agent Allan Walsh, male pro players were "seriously considering" whether to sit out their IIHF games in solidarity with the women.

Soccer players on the national women's team, who are waging their own pay fight, also supported their fellow female athletes.

And 14 U.S. senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, Robert Menendez, and Cory Booker, called on USA Hockey to treat the women's team fairly.